Starmaker DNA: Year 2
Written by Kitty Quinn, Photographed by Kristy Chisholm
CULTURE
6/26/2024
Only 2 years ago today, a star was born— or in the case of Starmaker Machine, it was carefully crafted in the mind factories of two kids unaware of the sheer power of their joint creative potential.
From the start, Starmaker was an idea larger than life with endless possibilities that lay ahead. Milan and I had just graduated high school and found ourselves at a crossroads. I was a working girl; lost looking for human connection and my place in the world all while juggling an adult job. Milan was attending college at Michigan State; meeting new people and dealing with the struggles of being on his own for the first time. We didn’t see each other often but when we did, we would find ourselves brainstorming and coming up with concepts for photoshoots with no real purpose. It was just something we loved to do and came as easy to us as breathing. We would spend full days and tireless hours perfecting our craft, and on our off days, we would visit countless Salvation Army’s looking for new articles of clothing or trinkets to include in our latest creations. Afterwards, I would drive Milan home and we’d find ourselves having deeply emotional conversations about what we want to be and how we’ve been coping with our new lives. One of these conversations is where the idea of Starmaker Machine was first conceived.
It was a hot day, like any other, where Milan and I sat sweating profusely in my old car with a broken A/C. With nothing but wind ringing through our ears and a David Bowie compilation CD blaring through the speakers, we talked about a dream of starting our own publication. I could fulfill my lifelong fantasy of becoming a writer and Milan could pursue his passion for photography… it didn’t seem too hard. The more we talked about it, the more giddy we seemed to get. As soon as we arrived at his house, I remember the bubbling feeling of excitement washing over me and I knew he could feel it too. We wrote feverishly for hours— What do we do? How do we do it? Why? It all seemed to come together so effortlessly. Just two weeks later, we began shooting and the rest came as natural as the weather.
Over the course of these last two years, we have only grown closer as friends and creative partners. Most importantly, we find ourselves walking down a path where anything has become possible if we truly put our minds to it. I think about this a lot, especially now. Because of Starmaker, we have been given opportunities and have met several people who have touched our lives in ways we never knew we could experience before. I have the same adult job, but I now live in a beautiful house in Detroit and am surrounded by love everywhere I go. Milan has graduated college a year early and is in the beginning stages of creating the life he has always deserved. Sometimes I wish we could go back and let our younger selves know just how much a little idea would change our lives forever. There is still so much to come.
If there’s nothing else I am certain of, all I know is that the world needs Starmaker Machine and so do we.
